Friday News: “Senate Sticks Around To Help Ukraine As House Republicans Skip Town”; “Why Wall Street Is Suddenly Having an Everything Rally”; “Trump’s secret weapon consolidating the GOP: Fear”; “Plan to move Capitals, Wizards to Virginia draws transportation worries”

by Lowell

Here are a few international, national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Friday, December 15.

• Nine breakthroughs for climate and nature in 2023 you may have missed
• Cop28 failed to halt fossil fuels’ deadly expansion plans – so what now? (“The absence of a ‘phase-out’ let petrostates off the hook, but there are other ways to end the era of coal, oil and gas”)
• Cop28 president says his firm will keep investing in oil (“Exclusive: Sultan Al Jaber says Adnoc has to meet demand for fossil fuels, and hails ‘unprecedented’ Cop deal”)
• Nature Got a More Prominent Place at the Table at COP28 (“Animals’ roles in the carbon cycle have long been overlooked. At the climate conference in Dubai, scientists showed how rewilding ecosystems can have big climate benefits.”)
• Global coal demand expected to decline in coming years – News – IEA
• A year of war: 2023 sees worst-ever Israel-Hamas combat as Russian attacks on Ukraine grind on
• Senate to return next week in hopes of pre-Christmas border deal
• Hungary Blocks Ukraine Aid After E.U. Opens Door to Membership (Why is Hungary still in the EU?)
• Hungary’s Orban says he can still halt Ukraine’s EU accession
• Ukraine’s European allies are letting it down (“It’s likely that this issue will be resolved to some extent and that the EU will be able to end the week with a press conference celebrating its continued support for Ukraine and its path to join the bloc. But for some Ukrainian and Western officials working closely with Kyiv, the episode is just the latest bit of evidence that the thing they feared most is finally happening: Ukraine fatigue.”)
• Hungary blocks €50bn of EU funding for Ukraine
• Intel agencies game out how long Ukraine could last without US aid
• Ex-FBI official sentenced for assisting “Putin’s henchman”
• Senate Sticks Around To Help Ukraine As House Republicans Skip Town
• Congress approves bill barring any president from unilaterally withdrawing from NATO
• As Biden-Netanyahu gulf widens, Israeli leader vows to continue Gaza war ‘until the end’
• “High intensity” phase of Gaza war needs to end within weeks, Sullivan tells Netanyahu
• Hamas plot to attack Jews across Europe is foiled by police (Hamas is pure evil.)
• The accounts of freed Israeli hostages add pressure to save those still in captivity
• Iran Hoped to Profit From Israel-Hamas War. Big Gains Elude It. (“While Tehran has shown its allied militias pose a threat, backing Hamas has exacted a diplomatic and financial price.”)
• US has collected intel it could use to judge Israel’s conduct of war
• Israeli military recovers hostage’s body in Gaza
• Biden in a bind as Netanhayu ready to flout any US attempt to rein in Israel (“Israel PM has defied US calls for restraint in Gaza and told domestic audience he will not compromise”)
• How American citizens lead rise of ‘settler violence’ on Palestinian lands (Disgusting.)
• Fighting to last ‘more than several months,’ Israeli defense minister tells U.S.
• U.S. warns Houthis to stop attacks in Red Sea
• Rebel fire and China’s ire: Inside Myanmar’s anti-junta offensive
• AEMO’s jaw dropping prediction for coal power – all but gone from the grid in a decade (“The Australian Energy Market Operator is predicting that the country’s remaining coal fired generators are likely to close much quicker than expected, saying they are becoming less reliable, more difficult to maintain and less able to compete with the growing share of renewables.”)
• Prince Harry wins suit against tabloid Daily Mirror, awarded $180,000
• Rising peak demand, 83 GW of planned retirements create blackout risks for most of US: NERC
• Stock Futures Rise After Dow Hits New Record
• Why Wall Street Is Suddenly Having an Everything Rally (“Is this the end of the war on inflation?”)
• Trump Says Biden Plunging U.S. Into Depression. The Stock Market Hit a Record High
• The Biggest Threat to America’s Universities
• Supreme Court leaves Illinois semiautomatic gun ban in place
• House sends annual defense policy bill to Biden’s desk
• Jeffries: Government will shut down unless House GOP yields on demands
• Shadow majority: House Democrats outvoted GOP on every major bill passed
• Bipartisanship on the Hill: Democrats and Republicans Agree Impeachment Sham Is About Helping Trump (“Republicans in the House who are itching for an impeachment are relying on an imagined history”)
• Here’s how dishonest James Comer’s Biden allegations are
• The Republican leading the probe of Hunter Biden has his own shell company and complicated friends (Comer himself should be investigated!)
• In GOP Contest, Trump Supporters Stand Out for Dislike of Compromise
• Americans agree that the 2024 election will be pivotal for democracy, but for different reasons
• Trump’s secret weapon consolidating the GOP: Fear
• The Supreme Court case that could shut down Trump’s election theft trial, explained
• Republican voters know Trump isn’t joking with his “dictator” remarks — it’s why they love him (“MAGA folks are gaslighting reporters when they say Trump is kidding”)
• Defeating Trump Is Just a Start
• The Democratic Strategist Who’s Bullish About Biden (“Democratic strategist Simon Rosenberg explains why he’s so optimistic about President Biden’s chances in 2024 despite all the bed-wetting among pundits and the media.”)
• The GOP Cavalry Isn’t Coming to Save Nikki Haley
• Now Would Be the Time for Nikki Haley to Actually Try to Beat Donald Trump. Does She Want To?
• Chris Christie can help derail Trump — if he plays second fiddle
• Jack Smith is still scrutinizing John Eastman
• The Story Behind Trump’s Gag Order Involves a Man Under Criminal Investigation for Stalking (Exclusive) (“A Wisconsin man behind the digital campaign that prompted Donald Trump’s gag order received three 50-year restraining orders and two criminal convictions resulting in jail time for harassing women”)
• EXCLUSIVE: Apology letters surface in Fulton Trump case
• New York Republicans choose ex-Israel Defense Forces soldier as nominee to replace George Santos
• Second chance for Mark Meadows to move racketeering case to federal court
• Apology Letters By Sidney Powell And Kenneth Chesebro In Georgia Election Case Are One Sentence Long (“The letters were hand-written and terse.”)
• Rep. Elise Stefanik files complaint against judge who has ruled in Jan. 6 and Trump cases (Stefanik is an extremist nutjob.)
• McCarthy Calls Gaetz ‘Crazy’ and Entertains Role in a Possible Trump Administration
• Kevin McCarthy Says He Loved “Every Single Day” in Congress, Where His Colleagues Despised Him and Threw Him Out on His Ass (“In one final humiliation, almost no one attended McCarthy’s goodbye speech.”)
• Rudy Giuliani Is a Hop, Skip, and a Jump Away From Telling His Cellmate “They Used to Call Me America’s Mayor”
• Giuliani’s words used against him in poll worker defamation trial
• Rudy Giuliani Labels ‘Daily Show’ Guest Host a ‘Slob’ After Roast
• ‘He has no right to offer defenseless civil servants up to a virtual mob’
• When the New York Times lost its way (“America’s media should do more to equip readers to think for themselves”)
• ‘Are We Truly So Precious?’: James Bennet’s Damning NYT Portrayal
• In court, Michigan Republicans tie false elector effort to Donald Trump’s campaign
• Seriously?? Sheriff David Clarke For Senate??? (Unhinged.)
• Moms for Liberty Is Tearing Itself Apart
• Sources: Christian Ziegler wants multimillion-dollar buyout to step down as Florida GOP Chair
• D.C. will lose more than the Capitals and Wizards if it doesn’t act fast
• Plan to move Capitals, Wizards to Virginia draws transportation worries (“With Metro facing a fiscal cliff and gridlock already clogging Alexandria, residents and sports fans are worried about getting to, from and around the arena.” Yeah, if Metro’s not in great shape, this isn’t going to work.)
• Excited about Youngkin’s deal to bring 2 major league teams to Virginia? We’ve been here before. (“No previous attempt to bring a franchise to Virginia has been successful — and there have been quite a few.”)
• Video: Sen. Mark Warner Comments on Defense Budget, the U.S. Honoring Its Commitment to Ukraine, Israel/Gaza, Border Security, the Caps/Wizards Arena and the US Postal Service
• House passes legislation to help fight Parkinson’s, naming bill after Virginia Rep. Wexton
• Virginia lawmaker with Parkinson’s helps lead the charge in creating panel to fight the illness
• Editorial: Legislature must act swiftly to address crisis in Virginia psychiatric hospitals
• Pope & Schapiro: Youngkin hopes for slam dunks on arena, budget plans
• State lawmakers to take another look at “skill games” next month (“They used to be called gray machines because they were in a gray area of the law. But the courts have declared them illegal. So, now they’re known as skill machines because the person playing the game is supposed to be using some kind of skill as opposed to dumb luck.”)
• Va. ABC official files whistleblower suit, alleging retaliation for reporting millions in losses
• FOIA Friday: A Times-Dispatch lawsuit and a rights restoration case dismissed
• Virginia court revives lawsuit by teacher fired for refusing to use transgender student’s pronouns
• Va. Supreme Court backs fired teacher who refused to use transgender student’s pronouns
• Phillips wins GOP nomination in House District 48 (Deep-“red” district, no chance for Dems unfortunately.)
• Video: Fairfax County School Board Member Karl Frisch Takes Oath for Second Term, Sworn-In on Banned Books (Kyle McDaniel sworn in on “’Homegoing’, which was recently banned in Hanover and Spotsylvania Counties”)
• How gardens and other public spaces bloom in Richmond
• D.C.-area forecast: Tranquil and mild ahead of the next rainstorm